Belarus’ assistant defense minister on Friday refused to confirm or deny whether Russian tactical nuclear weapons were stored at a facility in Osipovichi, central Belarus, Reuters reported.

“Maybe the CIA thinks so; I don’t know what this is based on,” Leonid Kasynskyi answered Reuters’ question about whether weapons were taken to a warehouse east of Osypovych.

“No one will ever tell you where the tactical nuclear weapons are – you have to understand that.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Oleksandr Lukashenko said Russia had already transferred some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, and the Kremlin leader said the move was to deter the West from trying to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.

Nuclear analysts from the Federation of American Scientists said on June 30 that new satellite images showed the construction of a double security perimeter at a weapons depot near Osypovych.

According to them, Osipovichi is a staging area for the Iskander nuclear missiles, which Russia will deploy to Belarus in 2022.

However, they said they could not confirm at this time that the site “was or will be permanently used to store Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.”

Minsk used the American tactics of transferring confidential information.

“It is US policy not to confirm or deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons anywhere, general or specific,” the Pentagon said.

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